Wish, Want, Take
by Insideaway
Summary: Edward is part of an agency dealing with creatures who grant wishes to select people. When Edward is given a wish, will it turn out the way he hoped? And what will happen when he meets Bella, who is about to be given a wish? Story idea by Linnac
1. If I had One Wish

So, it's been awhile since I really sat down and tried to write anything... Life managed to get the best of me. I was wandering aimlessly, reading random stories, and stumbled across Free Twilight story plots by Linnac, which was a bunch of story plots she had no time to get around to write. I read this idea and fell in love with it, so this is my attempt to bring her vision to life. Obviously, I don't own Twilight.

* * *

If anyone should have been capable of getting exactly what they wanted from the Givers, it should have been me. I, Edward Cullen, had spent the last five years of my life working for a top secret government agency, studying and learning more about the Givers, mysterious creatures who grant wishes to select people. I had personally been assigned to the task of studying how the actual wording of the wish translated to the outcome. My partner, Emmett McCarty, had been working on trying to determine how the Givers chose their 'victims', as he liked to put it.

To my dismay, he was much more successful in his research. The circumstances were nearly always identical, and always depended on the mindset of the person. First, the 'victim' would achieve something monumental, something they were extremely proud of, and would feel that their life couldn't get any better. At that point, the Givers would begin following them around, and they would begin having bad luck, everything going wrong, and would feel that things couldn't get any worse. Then, the Givers would offer them one wish, whatever they wanted, no strings attached. The 'victims' were always generally positive people, always looking for the silver lining, and were always trying to make those around them happy, even if it meant sacrificing their own happiness. Emmett had told me on more than one occasion that I was a prime example of the type of person the Givers chose, but I never really thought much of it.

The wishes came with no strings attached, but they could not be taken back or changed. They were also given based on the interpretation of the Givers. Once you made a wish, you were stuck with whatever you got. That's where I came in. It was my job to try and figure out why the Givers interpreted things the way they did, and how wishes should be worded to result in the most happiness from the outcome. For the majority of five years, I had come up with nothing. Their interpretation seemed completely random. The only wishes that I had found to be definite in their outcome were those in which a specific object was asked for, and even then, it was only a sure thing if it was something inconsequential, like an ice cream cone. Safe to say, I was irritated with my job and the lack of results.

I had begun to actually hate going to work. I didn't feel like I was actually accomplishing anything at all. The more I tried, the less I really cared. I was on the verge of quitting entirely, completely giving up, when it occurred to me that the couple of cases I was reading through, all with decidedly positive results, involved wishes in the form of metaphors. I spent the entire day sorting through other cases, always finding that the 'victims' were happier with the outcome if their wish was worded as a metaphor. When I went home that night, I actually felt that things were looking up. I was proud of myself, and actually looking forward to work for the first time in a long while.

The next morning, I felt as though I was being watched on the way to work. It was an eerie feeling, but I refused to let it get in the way of my current level of happiness. However, that happiness was destined to be very short-lived. One thing after another seemed to go wrong, and the worst of it was when some idiot ran a red light, and crashed into my Volvo, totaling it. In about eight hours, I went from loving life, to absolutely hating it. It's almost funny to me now that I didn't see it coming, that I was shocked to find several of the Givers waiting for me in my living room.

I listened as they told me what I already knew. I had one wish, anything my heart desired, I couldn't take it back, yada yada yada. Surprisingly, given my job, I had never really thought about what I would wish for. I was 28 years old with a great house, great friends, enough money to replace my poor Volvo, and a comfortable life. The only thing I didn't have was love, but I firmly believed that if it was meant to be, it would happen on its own. So, I carefully thought out a wish which I hoped would help me to make an impact on the world, wording it as a metaphor, and hoping my theory was correct. I took a deep breath, and said, "I wish that I was the greatest weapon for justice through all eternity."

Unfortunately, I hadn't counted on them interpreting the terms 'weapon' and 'eternity' quite so literally.


	2. When Dreams Become Nightmares

Here's the second chapter. I'm really enjoying the way this is turning out so far, and am having fun writing it. Thanks to anyone who read the first chapter, and a special thanks to brittany86 for your review, and thanks to brittany86, rides the beast, and VampiresandHorses4ev3r for adding this story to their story alerts! If anyone has any suggestions or comments, feel free to review. I think everyone knows I don't own anything, so let's just get on with the story.

* * *

After telling the Givers my wish, the next thing I remembered was waking up the next morning with a splitting migraine. As I sat up, I heard someone say, "Good morning, Edward." I jumped up, searching for the source of the voice, and found one of the Givers sitting in a chair in the corner of my bedroom. He wore a cloak, hiding his appearance, and I might have been nervous had I not been studying this exact kind of encounter for the last five years.

Before I could say a word, he spoke again. "I am Aro. You know what I am, and that your wish has come true. But we felt it would be… beneficial… to you if we explained your new situation. You asked to be 'the greatest weapon for justice through all eternity'. And that is what you will be. You are now a vampire, Edward, and you possess the gift of mind reading. You will feed only on those you feel deserve their fate: criminals, rapists, et cetera. You can still go out in the day, undetected, and continue in your current line of work. You cannot sleep, and are immortal, leaving you free to serve justice for eternity. Enjoy your wish."

And with that, he was gone, vanished before my eyes. As much as I had wanted to interrupt him, and beg him to change this, the entire time he spoke I was rendered speechless. This was crazy. I was a vampire? A vampire who fed on the scum of society? It was way too much to process, so instead of getting ready to go to work, I grabbed my cell phone and called Emmett.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Emm. Just wanted to let you know I won't be in today. I'm not feeling too great," I said, willing him to believe me.

"Alright, man. See you tomorrow, then?" He didn't sound suspicious at all.

"Yeah, I'll be there tomorrow. Talk to you later."

"Bye Eddie!" he chuckled, knowing I hated when he called me that. I hung up, and went to take a long shower to try and clear my mind.

I spent the day, for lack of a better word, moping. I had made my wish hoping to make the world a better place, and had been turned into a monster. It wasn't the hand I wanted, but it was the hand I had been dealt. After hours and hours of contemplating my options, I came to the conclusion that I would have to make the best of a bad situation.

Once night came, I wandered out into the night. While I hated the idea of what I was about to do, I was absolutely starving. I had tried several times throughout the day to eat regular food, and found that it was about as appetizing and fulfilling as eating dirt. Apparently, my new diet, while not completely self imposed, was definitely not optional.

As I walked along the streets close to my home, my ability to read minds astonished me. At first, it was like being in a high school cafeteria, with lots of voices all jumbled up and not making any sense. Before long, though, I had figured out how to single out voices and how to sort out which voice belonged to which person. Lucky for me, I wasn't actually talking to anyone, because I was having trouble distinguishing between thoughts and actual voices talking.

I wandered aimlessly, until I came across something that truly caught my attention. A voice that sounded young and female said, "I'm going to die." Immediately, I changed direction and headed toward the voice, sure it had to be a thought as it sounded like it was a good distance away. I sped up, and as I came to an alley, I saw a man pushing a girl up against a wall. She seemed to be fighting back, and his hand was over her mouth, keeping her quiet. Without consciously deciding to do so, I growled out, "Let her go."

The man turned to look at me, letting go of the girl in the process. She kneed him in the groin, yelled thank you as she ran past me, got in a nearby car, and drove away. When I turned back to him, the man was struggling to get to his feet, his thoughts decidedly angry and unfriendly. He was thinking about what he had planned on doing to the girl, and what he planned to do to me, when I snapped. Before his thought was done, I pounced and sank my teeth into the artery in his neck. Never in my life had I tasted anything so delicious as his blood. I stepped away minutes later, and he crumpled to a heap on the ground, dead as a doornail.

As I stared down at his cold, lifeless body, any doubts I might have had were soundly eliminated. I truly was a monster, and my wish had transformed into a curse.


	3. Silent Shout

I went home immediately, planning to go to sleep and hopefully wake up in the morning to find this had all been a dream. It didn't occur to me until I was safely locked in my house that Aro had told me I could not sleep. This situation was quickly turning into the never ending nightmare from Hell. As I sat around contemplating my fate, I realized that, along the course of my walk, I wasn't overwhelmingly drawn to the scent of anyone's blood besides that of the would-be rapist, so I would be able to handle interacting with others.

Before long, I happened to notice that the sun was already up, and I needed to get ready for work to prevent being late. After a quick shower, I threw on the first suit I grabbed from my closet and headed out the door. During the fifteen minute walk to work, I made a mental note to get a new car as soon as possible.

No sooner had I entered the office than Emmett confronted me. "Eddie, why didn't you tell me? I felt really stupid when I looked at my contact list for the day and found your name on it." Damn. I forgot that, every single morning, our boss gave us a list of suspected 'victims' to contact and question about the experience they had with the Givers. Of course, they didn't have to talk to us, but most people had no problem with it. Now, I just had to decide what to tell Emmett.

I was so involved in my own thoughts that I didn't realize Emmett's voice was still talking, but his lips weren't moving. His thoughts were just as loud and obnoxious as he was in reality. _'I want a wish. If I had one, I would totally wish for a leggy blonde supermodel. Or maybe a lifetime supply of ice cream. Yeah, definitely the ice cream.'_ I had to fight back a laugh, and then quickly launched into an explanation, being as honest as I could without telling him I was a vampire. "Sorry, Emm. It just happened yesterday, and I really want it to stay off the records. And before you ask, I wished for a way to tell if people were being honest with me. You would seriously choose ice cream over a supermodel?"

For a long, awkward minute, both his thoughts and his mouth were silent. Then, both yelled, with competing volume, "HOLY SHIT! I didn't say that out loud! You can read minds! HOLY SHIT!" I grimaced, then muttered, "Yeah, Emmett. Now keep it down."

It was comfortably quiet for a few seconds, then Emmett was off and running, talking faster than he could think. "Dude, you are totally going to the club with me tonight. There's this babe I've been trying to hook up with for weeks, and she's constantly been playing hard to get. It's driving me insane, but, dude, you're like the perfect wing man. You can tell me what she really thinks of me, and what I need to do to get her to go out with me. And then maybe we can find you a nice piece of ass. You totally need to get laid, just so you can lighten up. Oh, and then…"

"EMMETT!" I shouted, needing him to shut up. "If I agree to go with you, can we just get to work? Preferably without talking, or thinking, anymore than necessary." He laughed and nodded, while thinking, _'Yep. Eddie definitely needs to get laid.'_ I stomped to my desk, then threw a pen at his head with impressive force. Of course, he just ducked, laughed, and thought _'Awesome!'_

The next few hours passed by relatively peacefully, with only a limited few thoughts from Emmett, mostly about my lack of love life. The most disturbing point occurred just before our lunch break, when our boss' secretary came in to drop off a few files, and began thinking about how much she would enjoy a threesome between her, Emmett, and me. I couldn't help but to laugh, as the woman was old enough to be our grandmother. After she left, I explained my laughter to Emmett, who joined my laughter, then suggested we take off for lunch early.

We had about two hours, so I asked Emmett to go with me to get a new car. He agreed, as I knew he would, hoping to prevent me from getting a newer version of my old Volvo, which he always referred to as the Granny Mobile.

An hour and a half later, we were headed back to work in separate vehicles, he in his monster of a jeep and me in my brand new midnight blue Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster. I had originally planned on getting another Volvo, but as soon as I saw the Aston Martin, I knew it had to be mine. Emmett had been more than enthused about the upgrade, obviously.

I stopped at a small café on the way and picked up lunch for the both of us. I knew I didn't need to eat, but if I didn't get anything, Emmett would be suspicious. While I sat waiting for my order, I played with my mind reading. I would focus it on random people, just to practice blocking out other thoughts. I was taken by surprise when I focused it on one girl and got absolute silence. She was facing away from me and seemed deep in thought, but I couldn't hear anything. I focused on the girl next to her, and was overtaken by a whirlwind of high pitched thoughts, going a mile a minute. Quickly, I refocused on the first girl, but there was nothing. To say I was intrigued would be an understatement, but before I could think about it any further, my number was called, and I quickly grabbed my order and headed back to the office.

The rest of the day dragged, and when it was finally time to head home, I was simply dreading going out with Emmett. It was going to be an extremely long night.


	4. Sweet Dreams are Made of This

Emmett and I left work separately to head to our respective apartments and get ready for our night out. I was still less than enthused, but I knew the big lug would never let me out of it. I threw on a nice pair of jeans and black button down, tamed my hair as best I could, and was ready just in time for Emmett to barge into my apartment.

"Ready, Eddie?"

"Em, I swear... I'm only going out tonight to help you. If you aren't careful, I could easily screw up any small chance you have with this girl."

"You wouldn't do that," he stated as we headed down the stairs.

"Give me one reason why not."

"Because then you would be stuck listening to me whine about it incessantly, and we both know how annoying I can be if I put my mind to it." He winked at me, thinking '_And now I don't even have to talk to do it.'_

As we got in the car, I shot him a death glare. "New rule. While we're in public, avoid talking to me in your thoughts. It's still really hard to distinguish between thoughts and actual speech, and I would prefer to not look completely insane."

"I guess I can manage that. This is awesome, though. You can get any chick you want, because you can hear exactly what they're thinking. If I were you, I would totally be taking advantage of it."

"You aren't me, and you're still taking advantage of it." I laughed as we got out of the car at Volturi, Emmett's favorite nightclub. He tipped the bouncer so we could skip the line, and the moment we entered the club I knew this was going to suck. The cacophony of thoughts was already causing a headache, and combined with the loud music. "You owe me for this."

"You get me this girl and I will do anything you want. Come on." I followed Emmett to the second level of the club, where there were tables along a balcony looking over the dance floor. He went straight to a table occupied by a lone guy.

"Em, I hate to break it to you, but this is definitely not a girl," I joked, then ducked to dodge a slap to the back of the head.

"Eddie, this is my friend and college roommate Jasper. Jasper, this asshole is my best friend Edward." I took the handshake Jasper offered, and sat down across from him. "Where are the girls at?" Emmett tried to ask nonchalantly, but it was obvious how anxious he was.

"Dancing. Where else? Ali actually managed to drag Bella out tonight, and Rose is determined to find her a guy." Jasper chuckled and Emmett turned to me.

"Ali, or Alice, is Jasper's fiance. Rose, aka Rosalie, is his sister and my dream girl, but Jas here has declared that if I want to be with her, I have to make it happen myself. Some friend, huh?"

Jasper laughed. "Dude, I told you. I was her brother first."

"Whatever. And Bella... well, Bella is Ali's best friend, but she hardly ever comes out with us. You know, now that I think about it, She's just your type." He continued rambling, but an errant thought caught my attention. _'Shit! Jasper said Emmett wouldn't be here. He's cute, but he just tries too damn hard and treats me like I'm so fragile. Why can't I find a guy who understands I'm not some little princess?'_

I casually turned as three girls walked up to the table. A small, spunky looking one perched herself in Jasper's lap. A tall, leggy blonde with large breasts sat between Jasper and I, as far from Emmett as possible. The third girl sat next to Emmett. She had long chocolate brown hair and was absolutely breath-taking. I was so entranced by her I nearly missed it when the one in Jasper's lap, Alice I assume, started talking. "So, Jasper, who's your new friend?" _'Give me a name to put to the guy I'm setting Bella up with.'_

I stood and reached across the table. "Edward. I work with Emmett. You must be Alice." She shook my hand while thinking _'He's hot, charming, and employed. All a step up from Mike.'_

"Correct. I'm Alice. The hot blonde next to you is Rosalie." I shook Rosalie's hand firmly and fought back a laugh at her thoughts. _'Nice handshake. If Alice doesn't try giving this one to Bella, I'll take __him, if for no other reason than to mess with Emmett.'_ "And the lovely brunette next to the Hulk is Bella."

I stood up and took her hand, while trying to zero in on her thoughts. To my surprise, I was met with an oddly familiar silence. Somehow, I knew she had to be the same girl from the cafe. Lost in my intrigue over her silence, I held her hand entirely too long and practically fell onto the table when she pulled her hand away. I mumbled an awkward apology, and before I could sit down Emmett volunteered me to go help him get drinks. When we were out of earshot of the table, he started in on me.

"Now I remember why I don't bring you out in public. What the hell was that?"

"I can't hear Bella's thoughts. Nothing. It's just total silence."

"It's probably not just her. I'm sure there are other people on a different wavelength. Now, on to why I bothered dragging you out of your cave. What was Rosalie thinking?"

"She thinks you're cute-" he practically squealed- "But she said, well, thought, that you try too hard and treat her like she's fragile."

"What do I do? I have the information, but no clue how to use it."

"Just be yourself. Talk to her about cars or something you like. If I get any other ideas, I'll let you know."

We walked back to the table in silence, as Emmett appeared to be deep in thought. As we got closer, I picked up on Rosalie's thoughts. _'What the fuck is wrong with this guy? Bella said she's not interested, and he's still not taking a hint and backing off.'_ I saw the guy leaning over Bella, who was obviously uncomfortable. His thoughts were singularly aimed at taking Bella home, and before I could even think about it, I acted purely on instinct.


End file.
